Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a layer thickness restriction member in which a layer thickness restriction portion that restricts a layer thickness of a developer carried by a developer carrier, an upstream-side opposing portion and a downstream-side opposing portion that oppose the developer carrier, and reinforcing ribs arranged on a rear side of the layer thickness restriction portion are integrally molded with resin.
Description of the Related Art
Image forming devices that include a development device that develops an electrostatic image on an image carrier into a toner image by using a toner are widely used. The development device restricts a layer thickness of a developer magnetically carried on a rotating developer carrier to a uniform layer thickness with a layer thickness restriction member fixed to the development device.
The layer thickness restriction member is typically configured so that a blade member that restricts a layer thickness of a developer carried on a developer carrier is attached, so as to be capable of adjusting a clearance, to a support member that is disposed in the development device so as to be parallel to the developer carrier. However, in order to reduce the number of parts and to facilitate adjustment of the clearance between the opposing blade member and the developer carrier, integration of the support member and the blade member is awaited.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-214886 (Patent Literature 1) sets forth a layer thickness restriction member in which a support member and a blade member are integrally formed by press working a stainless plate. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-175360 (Patent Literature 2) sets forth a layer thickness restriction member provided with a reinforcement structure of a blade member in a middle portion of a developer carrier in a rotational axis direction.
As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, a layer thickness restriction member (37) in which a layer thickness restriction portion (36) that restricts a layer thickness of a developer, an upstream-side opposing portion (35) that opposes the developer carrier, and reinforcing ribs (38) that are arranged on the rear side of the layer thickness restriction portion are integrally formed using resin has been proposed. Moreover, when a layer thickness restriction member integrally formed with resin was fabricated by way of trial by injection molding, a bend was formed in the layer thickness restriction member in which the center portion of the layer thickness restriction member in the rotational axis direction of the developer carrier extended away from the developer carrier (see FIG. 8B).
Thereupon, a modification in a direction opposite to the bend was performed in the mold for injection molding at a portion corresponding to the layer thickness restriction portion of the layer thickness restriction member so as to, while tolerating a bend of the overall layer thickness restriction member, at least prevent the bend to affect the surface of the layer thickness restriction portion opposing the developer carrier. However, after performing such modification to the mold, when a layer thickness restriction portion was fabricated by way of trial, it was found that the linearity of the layer thickness restriction portion was lost in the center area of the layer thickness restriction portion in the rotational axis direction of the developer carrier.